Book reviews

A PREFATORY note to the “Sketches” tells us that “the subject-matter has, for the most part, been gleaned directly from the waterside, and should be looked upon more as the notes of a naturalist than the jottings of an angler.” Accordingly, it was with anticipation of interest that we turned to the opening chapter, on salmon.Sketches of British Sporting Fishes.By John Watson. (London: Chapman and Hall, 1890.)

Review.] Cit. Cuvier's LeP.ures on Co?nparative Anatomy. 3^7 tory and Comparative Anatomy. I believe I have made ufe of the principal difcoveries of the modern authors who have treated Anatomy in a phyfiological manner. Stenon, Swammerdam, Coilins, f-*uverney, Petit, Lyonnet, Haller, Monro, Hunter, Geortroy, Vicq d'Azyr, Camper, Blumenbach, Scarpa, Comparetti, Kielrneyer, Poli, Harwood, Barthez, have furnifhed the data with which I commenced my career; and though I have myfelf reviewed a confiderable part of thefe data, the glory of difcovering them i? not the lefs due to the celebrated men 1 have mentioned." We {hall now proceed to give a fummary view of the different chapters of this work, in which, though the real value of each divifion may be nearly the fame, there are many that contain only a fimple anatomical defcription of parts, which the ftudent with his fubje&s before him will perufe with minute attention, and the general reader will be much inclined to turn afide.
The fir ft chapter (or Leilure, as the author terms it, though much too copious for a fingle lecture to a clafs) contains a very clear and excellent fummary of the general laws of the Animal Economy, divided into the heads of, the Organic Fun&ions; the Strudlure of the Organs; the Differences of the Organs; the Relations of the Organs; and the Divilion of Animals founded on the whole of their Organization.
The chapter opens with a view of the fimple phenomena of life deduced from the decompofition of organized matter by the laws of common .chemical adtion after the vital principle has-, ceafed ; but the author acknowledges the infuperable difficulties that attend a refearch of this intricate nature, as, however near to the origin of life we carry our inquiries, the fubjedt has already enjoyed vital force, and poffefles the germ of the phenomena which life may afterwards develope.
We are foon therefore compelled to abandon this hopelefs path of refearch, and muft limit our inquiries into the texture and compofition of living bodies, and the aftual phenomena which diltinguiih animate from inanimate fubftances ; phenomena which the author characterizes by thefe three circumftar.ces : " origin by generation ; growth by nutrition ; and termination by deatha concife and accurate definition ! This, however, applies to every thing that has life ; but there are other lefs general faculties which indicate organization, but are not the neceifary confequences of it, and of thefe the faculty of sensation, and that of voluntary motion, are the molt remarkable.
We are confcious that thefe faculties exift in ourfelves, and we attribute them by analogy, and from their apparent exiftence, to a number of other beings, whom, with ourfelves, we include under the general term ? animals.
T/ie author then proceeds to (hew in what manner thefe two faculties of lenfation and voluntary motion are connected with each other, and how. they allow of a greater complication of organs than the vegetable kingdom, and this leads direitly to the consideration cf the functions of living bodies. The 368 Clt. Cuviers Lectures on Comparative Anatomy. [Review# The fecond head or article of this Le&urc, contains an interefting general idea of the ilruclure of the animal organs, and the proceffes which they are intended to carry on. Thefe are described tis they take,place in the moft perfect animals, but in proportion as the fcale of beings finks, they fucceffively difappear ; and in the loweit clafles of animals we find nothing but what is neceflarily connected with the idea of an animal, namely, a fac, fenfibie, moveable, and capable of digefting.
The third and fourth articles contain a review of the differences that fubfifl: between the cor efponding organs of different animals, and their relations with the other organs of the fame animal; and it is here that the more immediate object of the prefent work, Comparative Anatomy, commences.
The fifth article completes the fubjefl of the firfl: LeSure, or general head, by giving a fummary view of the aflual divifion which the author adopts in the claii-fication of animals. As thefe three articles will give the reader an id:-a of the plan and manner of the work, we fhall give a fhort abftraft of their contents. Two important diftinclions fubfift in the organs of motion, forming a divifion of all animals; in the firll, the bones form an internal fkeleton, articulated and covered by the mufcles, and in thefe the body is Supported by a ftrong pillar formed of feveral bony pieces placed one above the other, and called the fpine of the back. Animals polIeHing this kind of ftruciure are termed Vertebral Animals, a clafs which includes all the Mammalia, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes. In the fecond clafs there are no internal bones, but either merely fcales or fhells which cover the Ikin, within which are the mufcles, or elfe there is no hard part that can ferve as a lever or point of fupport for the motions of the animal's body. Thefe are the Inuertebral Animals, including the Soft Worms, Insects, and Testacea, and they are either entirely foft, or have their bodies and members envelloped in fcales articulated on one another, or are enclofed in Ihells.
The organs of lenfation prefent connderabJe variety. Some animals have no apparent nervous fyiiern, fuch as the Zoophytes and Polyps; others, fuch as the Ilollusca: tile Crustacea, Insects, and a part of the Articulated Worms, have only the brain above the alimentary canal, and have all the remainder of the common bundle of nerves fituated underneath, and contained in the fame cavity with the other vifcera ; and laftly, in the Vertebral Animals, the common fafcicuius of the nerves is fituated entirely in the back, above the alimentary tube, and enclofed in a canal which paffes through the vertebral column.
All the vertebral animals pollefs the fame fenfes as man, and tafte, touch, and perhaps fmell, appear never to be wanting; but the zoophytes and fome other claffes, want the fenfe of fight, and 110 organs of hearing have been difcovered in fome mollulca and in infefts.
The organs of digeftion exhibit likewife very important differences i one of the molt itriking of which is, that in the greater number Hev iew.l Cit. Cuvicrs Lefturts on Comparative Anatomy. 369 number of the zoophytes the inteftines form a fac with only one aperture, which ferves both for the admiffion of aliment and the expulfion of the fasces; whereas, in all other animals, the alimentary fac has diftintt orifices for thefe different offices. The chyle is determined to the body in two different ways; in the zoophytes, and (as "the Author thinks) in common infeds, the chyle limply tranfudes through the parietes of the inteflinal canal, and bathes all the interior of the body ; but in other animals it is taken up and conveyed by its peculiar abforbent veflels. In thefe iatter too, the colour of the contents of the feveral vefTels differs, for the vertebral animals-have the blood red, and the lymph colourlefs; but the mollufca have all the fluids nearly as tranfparerit and colourlefs as lymph.
The very important differences in the circulation of different animals is next noticed, and the diflintlion between the fingle and double circulation ; and in connection with this fubjeft the correfponding differences in the organs of refpiration are confidered, and the apparent total want of them in the zoophytes. Finally, the varieties in the mode of generation are defcribed ; the generation with or without copulation, and the natural hermaphrodite animals; and feveral circumitances relating to growth and i'ecretion.
Tneinterefling obfervations on the relation of the different organs and funttions to each other, and their fitnefs for the circumilances and habitudes of the refpedtive animals, are next pointed out, but in fo concife and confequent a manner that they are incapable of abridgment.
The divifion, or method of arrangement, follows next, a fubjeit of confiderable importance; for though in fome of the fingular forms and varieties of animal organization which Nature difplavs, fhe feems to fport with the rules of the mere pains-taking clafiifyer, the man of genius and enlightened observation wilL often be able to feize on fome of the grand and leading features of the admirable mechanifm of the animated creation, and open the door to the moil interefling and the fublimeft fpeculations.
The arrangement which the Author follows is founded principally upon the leading anatomical features that diftinguifh the feveral parts of the animal world.
It appears to be clear, elegant, and as free from perplexing anomalies as the nature of the iubje?t will admit of. We cannot enter into the minutice of this claffification, but fhall only obferve, that the firft grand divifion is that of 'vertebral and in-vertebral animals; the former of which fubdivides, more regularly than the latter, into the warm-blooded, containing the mammalia and birds, and the cold-blooded, which embraces the genera of reptiles and fifhes. The invertebral animals break into five genera, anatomically confidered, each of which has its diftinguiihing marks laid down with confiderable precifion; they are, the tnollusca, crujlacea, inseSis, the terrestrial ivorxis, and the zoophyla.
Each of thefe genera is again divided into its fc'/eral fpecies, which 370 Cit. Cuvier's Lectures on Comparative Anatorny, [Review* which we (hall not here follow: in fa?l, for the general purpofes of arranging fatts and aflifting obfervations, almoft any claffification of the animal kingdom, hitherto given, will anfwer the purpofe with tolerable eafe; and perhaps the ftudy of comparative anatomy is not yet fufRciently advanced to allow of a compleat, luminous, and unexceptionable arrangement. This fubjedl is further illuftrated by very ample tables given at the end of the volume, which will immediately exhibit the divifion of animals adopted by the author. f The fecond Ledure is employed in a full general defcription of the organs of motion; that is to fay, the bones and mufclcs, and is divided into the feveral articles of, the intimate nature of mufcular fibre ; the ftru&ure, compofition, and growth of bone; the articulation of bone; the mechanical ftru?ture of tendons and mufcles; and general remarks on the fkeleton.
The characteriftic chemical property of pure mufcular fibre is well known to be its perfeft refemblance with the cralTamentum after the colouring matter has been walhed away, and this has been termed fibrine by the French chemifts. The author notices the large proportion of azote which it contains, and the lingular difficulty which occurs in accounting for its formation in herbivorous animals, whofe food contains no fenfible proportion of this Several interefting remarks on horns, (hells, and the indurated coverings of various animals conclude this article. Shells, he obferves, are compofed like bones of calcareous mat'er, intimately conne&ed with gelatinous matter, but not conftantly difpofed in. lamina.
In fome fpecies, however, there are ftrata agglutinated to each other like leaves of palteboard, which certainly increafe with the growth of the animal, for thefe ltrata do not all exift in the young animal, but only the outer moll, which is alfo the fmalleft. This is the cafe with the mufcle, in which, when young, the fhell is only a fingle ftratum, and therefore is thin and brittle, but is, bulk for bulk, equally firm with the adult fhell. During growth a fucceilion of flrata are added on the inner furface of the fhell, each of which extends beyond the edges of the preceding ftrata, fo that each operation of this kind adds to the length, breadth, and thicknefs of the fhell.
Examples of moil of the kinds of articulation are to be found in human anatomy, and the fame may be obferved of the mechanical ftru&ure of tendons and mufcles. The tendons of the Crustacea, however, in the mufcles of the thighs and limbs, differ from thofe of the red-blooded animals in being hard, elaftic, and not apparently fibrous. This tendon is often articulated with the fcaly cafe which it has to move, in the fame manner as one bone is articulated with another, and is then connected by a membranous ligament.
The great claws of the cray-fifh afford an example of this kind. The tendons of the mollufca are not apparent. This chapter concludes with general remarks on the fkeleton, and an enumeration of principal points of refemblance and difference which are found in the various fubjefis of Comparative Anatomy.
Having thus prepared his Readers by a view of the moft important general features of the interefting fubjedl before him, the author proceeds to the individual defcription of parts, and the minutiae of Comparative Anatomy.
This may truly be confidered as the moft valuable part of the work; but the very nature of it renders it impoffible for us to do more than give the contents of the feveral chapters, and a fpecixnen of the mode in which this part is executed; for, a regular feries of clofe condenfed defcription, of all things, the leail admits of an abftradt.
In the third Letture the author defcribes the organs of motion (that is, the bones and mufcles) of the trunk; in the fourth letf^re, thofe of the anterior extremity or perioral member; and in the fifth, the poflerior extremity or abdominal member. The pian purfued in thefe chapters is truly comparative, as the author iirft defcribes B b 2 the the parts as they exift in man, and then proceeds to the fame or fimi-Jar parts in the ether mammalia, in birds, and in reptiles; and the corresponding anatmoy of fifties is fubjoined.-Befidcs the con:m m form of anatomic:-.! defcription, the author takes occafion to introduce fevcral comparative tables illuftrative of the Irbj ft, fuch as, of the nurrber of vertebrae in different animals, of the comparative length of the fpine in the mammalia, &c. See.; and he at times increafes the intereft of the defcription by obfervations on the peculiar ufes of parts, and their adaptation to the mode of li<e which, the at.im .1 is deftined to purfue. In the fixth Lefture, the comparifon with the human fubjett is ne-celTirily dropped, as in it the organs of motion in animals without vertebra; are defcribed This part is, perhaps, mere curious than the other, as it i:-. fomewhat lefs familiar to general (ludents, and includes feveral of thofe fin'gularities of ftrufture, which, from their novelty, excite furprize and wonder ; at the fame time it ftiould be remembered, that as it is the moll imperfedlly known, and the remote from analogy with our own fpecies, its utility to the common fludent of anatomy is lefs than the former part, whatever it may be to him who purfues this difficult path with a view of difcovery. The mollufca are divided into the Cephalopoda, in which the head is furnifhed with tentacula that ferve the purpofe of feet, as is feen in the fepia or cuttle fifh; the Gajterepcda, which have the head free and crawl upon the belly, of which the fnail is a familiar example ; and the Acephala, fuch as the oyller, in which there is no diftinft head. It is only the organs of motion in the animals that are here defcribed, thofe of fenfe being referred to another part of this work.
We (hall give part of the author's defcription of the organs of the cuttle fifb, one of the cephalopoda. " The cephalopoda have eight conical feet, of different lei.gths, arranged in a circle at the top of the head round the mouth. The animal can turn and bend them in every direftion, and fallen itfelf to bodies by help of the cups or fuckers with which they are furnifhed. The mufcles which perform thefe motions are very numerous. ? Below the Ikin we find a very thin mufcle, the fibres of which are united by a loofe cellular fubflance. It accompanies the fcin in all its different fhapes, and may, perhaps, be regarded as a muftulus fubcutaneus, employed to corrugate the fkin, and give greater force to the mufcle fituated within it, and upon which it afts as a girdle." After defcribing the other mufcles of the foot with its terminating fucker, he adds, " When an animal of this kind approaches any body with its fuckers, in order to apply them more intimately, it prefents them in a flat or plain flate ; and when the fuckers are thus fixed by the harmony of furfaces, the animal contradls the fphindler, and forms a cavity in the centre which becomes a vacuum.1 By this contrivance the fucker adheres to the furface with a force proportioned to its area and the weight of the column of air and water of which it conftitutes the bafe.. This force multiplied by the number of fuckers, gives that by which all or Heview,] Mr. Bryce, on Cow-Pox Inoculation,

373
-cr a part of the feet adhere to any body. This power of adhefion is fuch, that it is eafier to tear oft' the feet than to feparate them from the fubftance to which the animal choofes to attach itfelf " ThL chapter concludes with the curious organs of motion of the lnfe&s, vermes, and zoophytes.
In the fbventh and laffc i,e?ture of the firft volume, the fubje?l of the organ of motion is properly concluded, by a view of the effects r fubing from the united action of thefe organs, whereby the circumftances of (landing, walking, feizing and climbing, leaping, fwimming, and flying, are produce'. Some of the peculiarities m each of thefe actions poflefled by certain clafies of animals are al!o pointed out. Thus, in Handing, the f!ru?lure of birds that enables fome of them to remain fo ione on one leg unfatigued is explained in the fallowing manner: " There are fome animals in which certain arti ulations are maintained in a ilate of exienfion, in confequence of tneir pirticular form, and the ligaments attached to them.
The flo k affords an example of this. The furface of the femir that articulates with the tibia, has in its middle a depreifion which receives a proje&ion of the latter bone In bending the leg, this procefs is lirted out of the depreflion and removed to Its posterior e.^ge. By this motion the ligaments are neccflarily More ftretched than during the extenfion of the leg in which the procefs remains in its focket. Thefe ligaments, therefore, preserve the leg extended in the manner of fome fprings, without receiving any aflillance from the mufcles." The method in which the aftive mufcular exertions of different animals are performed is defcribed with equal clearnefs, and terminates the volume.
[ To be concluded in our next number. ] PraSIical Oifirvations on the Inoculation of Coiv Pox, pointing out * a Tffi of a Conjlitutional djfitlion in thofe Cafes in '-which the local Inflammation is flight, and in which no Fever is perceptible : llluflrated by cafes and plates. By James Biiyce, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, &c. and one of the Surgeons to the Inftitution for the Gratuitous Inoculation of Cow-Pox. E linburgh, i8oz, pp 236. 8vo. The greater part of this work is a compendium of the principal fails that have been obferved on this interefling topic, fele&ed principally the fevenl publications of Dr. Jenner, to whom the author gives the eulogium which the inventor of Vaccine Inocuation fo well merits. After the numerous publications on Cow-pox which have been laid before the world, it would be needlefs to re-Capitulate the contents of the prefent work; it will be fuificient to obferve, that the fekftion is made with elegance and judgment, and that the relative importance of each circumftance is preferved by receiving a proportional ftiare of notice, fo that, as a compendium, this publication yields in value to none. The author, however,' does not appear before the public as^ a mere compiler, but gives fome obfervations which aflame a claim originality. Thefe we fliall briefly notice, Mr. Bryce, on Caw-Pox Inoculation.
[Review* We think, therefore, it was hardly neceflary for the author of the publication before us, after giving the refult of Dr Woodville's fiilt experiments, to announce his own explanation of thein in the following terms. " I am of opinion, that on attentively ' confidering the circumftances under which it was formed, and comparing thofe with what has occurred to myfelf and others em-Review'.] Dr. hard's Account of the Savage ofJveyron. 377 What fpeculative philofopher could ever venture to propofe fuch an experiment? and how great mufl be the chances againft a child, thus fituated, ftruggling through the helplefs years of infancy! Such an interelling lubjeft for the moralilt, the phyfiologift* and the man of reflection, has, however, actually occurred ; and the inftance which we have juft fuppofed, is not ^hypothetical, for all thefe circumftanccs appear, on the Itrongeft prefumptive evidence, to unite in the perfon of the boy who was brought to Paris about three years .ago, under the name cf The Savage of Aueyron.
The narration which begins this little work, is perfedtly fimplc* " A child about eleven or twelve years of age, who had been feen fome time before in the woods of C.iune in France, looking after acorns and roots, upon which he fubfifted, was met in the fame place, towards the clofe of the year 179?, by three fportfmen, who feized upon him at the inllant he was climbing a tree to evade their purfuit. They condudtcd him to a neighbouring village, and put him under the care of an aged matron, from whom, however, before the end of a week, he contrived to efcape, and fled to the mountains, where he wandered about during the Yeverity of a moft rigorous winter, clad only in a tattered fhirt. At night he retired into folitary places, approaching, as the day advanced, the neighbouring villages; and in this manner he palled a vagrant kind of life, till the time in which, of his own accord, he fought refuge in a dwelling-houfs in the canton of St. Semin." From hence, we are informed, he was removed to two or three different places, during which time he appeared wild, capricious, and impatient of reftraint, till at lafi; he was fent to Paris, and finally placed under the care of the Author, who is the fuperintendant of the Hofpital for the Deaf and Dumb, one of the moft excellent and benevolent inftitutions for its extent in that large metropolis.
Here then begins the fubjefl; of the interefting hiftory before us, which is, to relate the manners, habits, bodily conllitution, and above all, the degree of reafon fhewn by this unfortunate foundling, of whom we may fay, with the Poet,?
Earth was his bed, the boughs his roof did frame, He knew no beverage but the flowing ftream : His food the fruit with which the woodlands teem, The fame to him glad Summer or the Winter breme. So palled his youthful morning, void of care, Wild as the colts that through the commons run. The expe&ations that were firft formed on his arrival at Paris, were fuch as ftrongly to awaken public curiofity; even perfons of fuperior underftanding leemed to have expected to find in him a lively, intelligent chiTd, full of activity and obfervation ; and they anticipated the pleafure of obferving his aftonilhment at the fplendour of the capital.
What was their difappointment at finding only " a difgufting, flovenly boy, affeded with fpafmodic, and frequently with convuiftve motions, continually balancing himfelf like fome of the Soimals in the menageries, biting and Scratching thofe who contradicted ?7 5 &r' hard's Account of the Savage of Aveyron. ["Review# tradidled him, exprefling no kind of affection for thofe who attended upon him ; and, in fhort, indifferent to every body, and paying no regard to any thing." Hence it was that, though many people of all denominations, at firft flocked to fee fuch a novelty as a ixiild boy, the public cui rjofity was foon fatisfied'; it prefently ceafed to be the fashion to vifit the favage of Aveyron, and he might have been abandoned to negleft, if, fortunately for him, he had not found in Mr. Itard, a patient, kind, and truly paternal guardian, who appears to have devoted much of his valuable time to the laborious and almofi: hopelefs tafe of foftening the untradlable fpirit, and roufing the dormant faculties of this wild and uncouth child of Nature.
The Author proceeds to explain the plan which he laid down, in order to begin the education, civil and moral, of his lingular pupil. The plan is truly philofophical : the fuccefs refulting from the labour of two years has been but partial; enough, however, as it ihould feem, to encourage his kind guardian to perfevere in a eourfe, every Hep of which affords fo much matter for interefting refieftion.